We chose to transition to a grass based beef program a number of years ago. In fact, we have never moved very far toward the grain feeding that has been so prevalent in the last 30 – 40 years. We have retained the local family farm culture and atmosphere. It seems odd that calves going through the typical local livestock auction leave our local area, travel to a feedlot in the Midwest, move again to a packing house and then travel back to us on the east coast. It just doesn’t seem right that our cattle are sometimes better traveled than we are!

For most producers, feeding hay is a common activity that occurs for 4-5 months of the year or even more when we don’t have adequate rain and grass to carry us through the summer. Only in the last few years have we owned our own haying equipment and been able to make our own hay. Prior to this we worked with friends, neighbors and local farmers to assist us with making or buying our hay. To minimize our need for hay we grazed as far into the winter as possible before feeding, generally until Christmas or shortly after. After finally joining the conventional crowd and purchasing our hay equipment we’ve learned that we were probably right all along to better manage our forage resources and buy the small amount of hay needed. We have managed our cowherd of 30 – 60 mama cows in Gilkey, NC through the past three years, feeding less than a total of 50 bales of hay for the three years. That includes the drought years of 2007 and 2008! Ranching is much more pleasant when we can just check our cows, their water and mineral supply every day or two rather than feeding hay or grain every day.

Additionally we have become more aware of the health benefits of grass-finished beef versus grain-finished beef. The difference most noticeable to the average consumer is the reduced percentage of fat. At the same time, it is very possible and even common for those selecting genetics suitable for grass finishing to yield marbling equivalent to animals finished in a feedlot. Grass fed beef has a higher level of Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) which can provide anti-carcinogenic activity and it has higher Omega-3 fatty acids compared to Omega-6 fatty acids. This higher ratio is believed to be better for cardiovascular health. Additionally we avoid the use of hormones to accelerate growth in our animals. We strive to breed performance into our cattle rather than artificially stimulate performance.

We are not nutritionists, biologists or dietary experts but evidence seems to be indicating health benefits to grass feed beef. We do not claim to be purists and totally avoid feeding all concentrates. We do supplement our calves with soybean hull pellets at weaning and occasionally feed our cows some soy hull pellets or other by-product feeds to keep our livestock gentle and easy to handle. We make every effort to provide our animals a low stress life on green pasture and it is much less stressful to move our animals with a feed bucket than with dogs, electric shock prods and 4 wheelers. We use their natural wants and needs to our advantage with safe and humane handling methods for both the livestock and handlers.